Momona Kitō, and then Yua Mikami

The idol years

In 2006 she tried out for Morning Musume's eighth generation. She was thirteen. They cut her in the first round.

She tried again in 2009 and got in. That March she debuted with SKE48 on Team E under her real name, Momona Kitō. She was one of the second-generation members, and for a while things looked good.

Then they didn't. In December 2010 the group demoted her back to trainee. In July 2013 a tabloid printed photos of her with a boyfriend, which broke the unwritten "no dating" rule of the idol world and put her name in national news for all the wrong reasons. She announced her graduation in March 2014 and sang her last SKE48 stage on 9 April. Her record with the group: eight single B-sides, plus one with AKB48.

A second career, on her own terms

In June 2015 she came back with a new name, Yua Mikami, and a debut in the adult film industry. The plan was one film. The film became one of the best sellers of the year, and the plan changed.

Over the next eight years she became the most recognizable face in the industry. The numbers back that up: Best New Actress at the 2016 DMM Adult Awards, Best Actress in 2017, second place in Fanza's annual actress ranking in 2019 and 2020, and first place in 2021.

Asked about her choice, she never dodged. It was her life, she said, so the decision had to be hers. Whatever you think of the industry, that answer is hard to argue with. She announced her retirement in March 2023 and left on 16 August that year, her thirtieth birthday.

Music, again

She never stopped singing. A solo single, "Ribbon," came out in November 2016. The same year she joined Ebisu Muscats.

The bold move came in 2018: Honey Popcorn, a K-pop group in Seoul that she founded and paid for herself. South Korea did not welcome it. The launch concert was cancelled, a petition against the group collected more than 50,000 signatures, and one member quit before the year ended. Most people would have folded. She recruited three new members and released a second EP in July 2019.

Founder

Her first clothing label appeared in 2017, while she was still performing. In January 2022 she went further: she set up her own company, Miss Co., Ltd., left her management agency, and started booking her own work.

That timing matters. When she retired in 2023, she didn't step into nothing. The company, five brands, and a YouTube channel with over a million subscribers were already there, waiting. In May 2026 she picked up one more title, and probably her strangest one yet: most popular cheerleader of the TPBL's 2025-26 season in Taiwan.

Chronology

Timeline

• 1993 Born in Nagoya

  Momona Kitō, 16 August, Aichi Prefecture.

• 2006 First audition

  Tries out for Morning Musume's 8th generation at thirteen. Cut in round one.

• 2009 SKE48, Team E

  Debuts in March as a second-generation member.

• 2014 Graduation

  Announces her departure in March; final performance on 9 April.

• 2015 Debut as Yua Mikami

  1 June. Planned as a one-off, it becomes one of the year's biggest releases.

• 2016 Awards, a group, a solo single

  Best New Actress at the DMM Adult Awards, joins Ebisu Muscats in April, releases "Ribbon" in November.

• 2017 Best Actress, and a clothing label

  Wins the top DMM award and launches her first fashion brand.

• 2018 Honey Popcorn

  Self-funded K-pop project debuts in Seoul to heavy controversy.

• 2021 Number one

  Tops Fanza's annual ranking after two years in second place.

• 2022 Miss Co., Ltd.

  Founds her own company in January and goes independent from her agency.

• 2023 Retirement

  Announced in March on YouTube. Effective 16 August, her 30th birthday.

• 2026 Mieloa, and a cheerleading award

  Launches a night-bra line with DRW in April; named the TPBL's most popular cheerleader of the season on 12 May.

Also

Elsewhere on screen

If you play the Yakuza games, you may have already met her. She appears as herself in Yakuza 6: The Song of Life and Yakuza Kiwami 2. She also shows up in Namewee's 2020 music video "I Shot You" and spent years as a regular on the variety shows Muscat Night, Muscat Night Fever!!! and Show Your Rockets.